


Not all beautiful things are too far to hold.

by multifunctional



Category: LazyTown
Genre: Angst, Crying, Dancing, Emotional Support, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-27
Updated: 2016-11-27
Packaged: 2018-09-02 13:16:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8669119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/multifunctional/pseuds/multifunctional
Summary: Every once in a while, a breath of fresh air is all it takes to clear out your clogged up emotional drainpipe.





	

Lazy Town always seemed to support beautiful sunsets. Every evening seemed to be more beautiful than the last. The art formed by the clouds and the light dancing between them would just capture Robbie Rotten by the heart each time he caught a  glimpse through his window. Ordinarily, he would simply watch Disney movies until he fell asleep around 4:00 in the morning, but this evening felt… different, somehow. He glanced between his computer and the window once - maybe twice - before closing it and slipping out from beneath the covers to wiggle his feet into a pair of soft slippers, torn up at the soles from frequent use.

He made his way cautiously to the door of his home, taking a deep breath before climbing out the door. Lazy Town was so different in the evenings. Everyone must have been asleep already. Who could tell? It was 8:00 in the evening, after all. The quietness of the town was much less eerie than Robbie had expected it to feel. No, this was a peaceful quiet. It was a _pleasant_ quiet, and what made it even better was the glorious array of stars peeking out from behind those soft, plump, dark clouds. Robbie pulled his knees up close to his chest, wrapping one arm in front of them comfortably and resting his chin in the other hand.

"It's really beautiful, isn't it?" a voice murmured from behind him. Robbie gave a startled yelp, feeling his heart jump up into his throat only to plunge down to his stomach when he turned and saw the owner of that familiar baritone.

"Sportacus," he sneered. "What are you still doing awake? Shouldn't you be 'training' for some 'sporting event' thing?"

Somehow the blue-clad athlete managed to ignore Robbie's scathing use of air quotes. This was surprising to Robbie; his air quotes have proven to be the most surefire way to puncture a hole in anybody's self-esteem and shoot them right down.

"Oh, right," he muttered bitterly. "You're Sportacus, the famous and popular hero of Lazy Town. How could I forget? You and your 'healthy habits' can handle just about anything I throw at you, or apparently nature, for that matter."

Sportacus then did something that Robbie never would have expected him to do: he laughed. No, no, the laugh was not surprising - he did plenty of that during the day - but the context of the laugh was what seemed so incredible. It was a much softer sound than the usual hearty guffaw that rings from his chest. It was not even a delirious guffaw like the one he gave when the Mayor did one of his silly Mayor things, or one of those detestable children amused him in some silly way. No. This was a chuckle, a hum, even. It was just the slightest hint at amusement, and had Robbie not been looking at his face, he would have thought that Sportacus was preparing to scoff at and entirely dismiss his presence after all. Much to his own surprise, Robbie felt his face grow warm.

_Get a hold of yourself, Robbie Rotten!_ he scolded himself mentally. As desperately as he tried to chastise himself for being affected by those sparkling blue eyes, he just could not control the warmth that rose to his face when he took in the gentle smile that touched Sportacus' lips or the gentle crinkle by the corner of his eyes.

"Yes," he replied at last, "I suppose I am."

Another quiet fell over the two. This quiet was not uncomfortable. A gentle breeze brushed over them, causing leaves in the nearby trees to flutter delicately amongst one another and the pom-pom on the end of Robbie's nightcap to swing behind his head. When Sportacus laughed at the pom-pom's bounce, Robbie clenched both fists into the flannel of his pajama pants. His toes curled defensively within their worn-out slippers.

"Hey, hey, now! Don't turn away! Please. I was… I was hoping I could sit here with you. Hoping I could watch the stars."

Robbie scowled at him skeptically but he knew that time was ticking and he had in fact only come outside for that very reason, so he finally turned to face the last few radiant beams of sunlight as they shot out and clung to the clouds above and the faces of buildings below before they left for the evening. The sounds of the grass as it was stepped on and the natural slow exhale from the other man did not give reason enough for Robbie to stand and leave, regardless of how close Sportacus was. Neither of them spoke a word as the sun dipped down below the town's horizon and left them in darkness. Once again, Robbie was surprised by the comfortableness of the quiet between the two.

"Robbie, I -"

"Sportacus - oh?"

The sound of his name immediately intercepted by his own voice caught Robbie off guard. He closed his mouth and tried to resume an expression of nonchalance even as curiosity and a strange thrill burbled up inside of him.

"No, go on," Sportacus prompted him.

"No. You first," Robbie insisted back. "You started first."

The beautiful features that had moments ago been settled into an expression of what could almost be construed as fondness were now molded in the form of extraordinary confusion.

"That's why I'm surprised."

"No," Robbie pressed. "You go first."

"Okay," Sportacus said slowly. He paused contemplatively, the mask of confusion now melting back into one of thoughtfulness. (Robbie had to bite the inside of his cheeks to remain calm.) "Well… I was just surprised to see you out and about this evening. Pleasantly surprised, actually. And I'm… I'm curious as to why it is that you ventured out here?"

Such a mundane question almost made Robbie scoff in disgust. He had been hoping for - wait, hoping for something more pointed? Maybe it was just nervous anticipation that was foiled. Nevertheless, he did respond truthfully:  
"I wanted to see the sunset."

"You wanted to see the sunset?" Sportacus repeated.

"Yes, I wanted to see the sunset!" Robbie snapped.

"But it's outside!" he gasped incredulously. Sportacus seemed just about ready to burst from the laugh that he was working so hard to keep inside, but at the sight of Robbie's defensive and stung scowl, he backed off considerably.

"I think that's really neat," Sportacus then said.

"Sure you do."

"No, I'm serious!"

Robbie refused to look the other man in the face. He doubted that he would be able to keep his composure like a rational human being if he had to look at the face that would doubtless match the sincerity of his voice tit for tat.

"I have been wondering what it could possibly be that would draw you out of that lonely little home. I knew there had to be something that would draw you out here into the fresh air. It's truly magical when you find that _one thing_ that inspires you so greatly that you would change so much of your habit to see."

The short speech was actually very touching and Robbie had to fully turn away for a moment before he could bring himself to respond.

"The sky is just that beautiful, I guess."

The silence that followed his words felt almost _expectant_ , like the hero was waiting with rapt attention for more glorious drops of human experience to fall from Robbie's lips.

"The sky is better here than even on my HD screen," he continued slowly. "The stars are so small and the clouds are so big. Everything is so far away. Why does everything so beautiful have to be so far away? Why is it far away?!"

The cracking sob in his voice caught Robbie by surprise. He clamped both hands over his mouth to prevent any further sounds from potentially coming out of it, like the second small yelp of the evening in reaction to Sportacus' heavy, warm hand resting on his shoulder.

"Hey, now, hey," he murmured softly. "No, no, don't be embarrassed, Robbie. I don't know what just came over you right now but I want you to know that it's okay. It's okay to feel sad and it's definitely okay to cry. Crying is a healthy way to let out that sadness, wherever it came from."

Robbie bit into his fingers, screwing his eyes tightly shut. Of course he was embarrassed for crying. Why would he not be embarrassed for crying in front of the guy everybody in Lazy Town seemed to straight up idolize? How could he possibly be okay when everything seemed so… not?!  
"C'mere," he murmured. He wrapped his other arm around Robbie, inviting the man to lean against him if he wanted but leaving enough space so that if this was too much he could just shake Sportacus off and Sportacus would step back to respect his space.

Truthfully, this amount of contact was a lot for Robbie, but it was not unwelcome. He moved neither nearer to nor farther from Sportacus' arms but allowed the one resting on his shoulder to remain.

"Do you want to talk about whatever it is that's making you so upset?" he asked gently.

Robbie began to shake his head no, but he paused mid-shake to concentrate all of his energy on not letting the next sob to spill out between his teeth.

"You said that everything beautiful is so far away," Sporticus began gently after another moment. "Is that why you're sad?"

Robbie grit his teeth (having removed his hand from his mouth) and nodded once.  
"I see, I se-"

"The sun is too brash. It feels like it's mocking me. All the time. I hate it. I hate that the moon seems like it's the only cooler alternative and that the moon also mocks me. 'Look how late it is, nitwit. What are you doing? _Nothing_ , that's what.' The clouds and the stars are so much nicer. They're so much softer and… farther away. Birds are annoying. And then there's the fact that all of these things just exist so peacefully and happily in their little wo- their big world up here, and I'm just…! And then there's _you_ , up in that dumb blimp in the sky, so high above everyone else, so far away-!"

Once again Robbie snapped his teeth shut and tried to engulf his whole face into his hands.

"I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what, Robbie? What could you possibly have to be sorry for? Feeling?"

"For everything!" he wailed. Robbie wobbled and Sportacus reacted by pulling him into a tight embrace. Truthfully, the way Sportacus held him made Robbie feel a surge of calmness push up from behind the impending hysteria. The calmness was just as shocking to him - if not more shocking - than the tears that spilled down his cheeks. Any second now, he was sure, Sportacus would shove him off and cartwheel away in disgust or something, but as he kept not doing that for what felt like forever on end, Robbie finally began to relax some and entrust himself to those strong arms and the comforting beat of his heart as could be heard from how he was nestled into Sportacus' chest. The next time Sportacus spoke felt like the first time Robbie had ever heard anything: low and gentle and wonderful.

"Has 'everything' been brought down by a few things?" he teased in a soothing voice. He rubbed Robbie's back lightly with oe sturdy hand, supporting their combined weight with the other so he could sit up straight enough for Robbie to lean his whole weight on him. It took Robbie a moment before he could remember how to maneuver the English language.

"Yes," he eventually managed.

As much as Robbie wanted to, he could not bring himself to look up at Sportacus' face. He wanted to see what expression matched those soft words, and more than that, he wanted to see them directed at _him_. The best Robbie could do at the time was limply curl his fingers into the fabric of Sportacus' shirt.

"You're not too far away right now," he mumbled into his pectorals.

"That's right, Robbie. I'm not."

Several more seconds ticked by like this, in a very delicate and comfortable stillness, before Sportacus posed a question.

"What were you going to say to me a bit ago?"

Once again Robbie could feel his face flush with heat as he tried to find words before stumbling over an unattractive cascade of mismatched syllables.

"I was gonna say that, um, it's - uh, it's - " and here he paused to sigh "- it's just nice to see you."

Sportacus' laugh began lightly but developed into one semblant of his ordinary hearty laugh.

"Is that all, Robbie Rotten?" he grinned down at him.

"Yes," came his eventual reply, a smile tugging at the corners of his own lips. "Yes, that _is_ all."

 

***

 

Robbie had come out into the evening air on several more occasions in the following weeks; each time he hoped to see Sportacus and each time his hopes were met favorably. It became an almost-semi-sort-of-regular thing that every couple of evenings Robbie would go out to the base of a tree just a bit outside of town and Sportacus would meet him there with a blanket and sometimes a snack, ready to watch the colors of the sky change before their eyes.

"Not every beautiful thing is too far to hold, I suppose."

Sportacus looked down at Robbie's face with a quizzical expression, wondering what the man could mean, until Robbie took hold of one of Sportacus' hands and squeezed it gently between both of his own.

"I won't hold too tight in case you want to go, but for a moment, I'm glad to have you close."

Sportacus squeezed Robbie's hand as he spoke.

"I plan on staying close for quite a while, Robbie Rotten, so don't let me go too soon."

For the first time in a very long time, Robbie Rotten felt enough energy rush through him to get up and run and dance all night - so that is just what they both did.

As it happened, dancing with the one you love is the perfect end to the day.

 

~ Fin ~

**Author's Note:**

> I WROTE THIS IN RESPONSE TO A MEME I DIDN'T MEAN FOR IT TO GET HEAVY IN THE MIDDLE THERE  
> BUT IN ANY EVENT 10/10 RECOMMEND FRESH AIR IN SOME CAPACITY EVERY DAY (OPEN THOSE WINDOWS, TAKE A WALK, ETC) IT ISN'T A CURE-ALL END-ALL FOR MENTAL ILLNESS BUT DARN GOLLY IT'S A NICE THING THAT YOUR BOD JUST NEEDS SOMETIMES THANKS


End file.
